Hello August, Thank you for Your Blessings!

I’m basically a local. The past three days have by far been a few of my favorites, but for simple reasons. I enjoy the freedom that I’ve had in just being comfortable and getting adjusted. Two days ago, I stayed at the house all day. Yes, I worked (there’s plenty of work for me to do as far as website building and design is concerned. I’m basically in charge of all of the social platforms and outreach for LIFLIM), but that wasn’t all. I love that I have an office space, and between time in the office, I spent the day laughing and talking with the scouts and some of my other friends. I went with Total to the carwash. Anchelo bought me fried plantains and chicken balls off the street (something I couldn’t do on my mission trip last year), and I relaxed. I genuinely enjoyed doing nothing and hanging out outside, learning the language, embracing the culture.

Betty has started calling me her sister and that makes me feel pretty special. In two weeks, we have gotten extremely close and I’m glad that I have somebody with me that gets to know me on a very personal level, as roommates, as friends, as family. No, she’s not Titziana, but she is a special companion who I am glad that I met. Naturally, as she is getting married in December, her fiancé is like my brother and he treats me as such. I get to be a part of the wedding! The other night, Patchko, Betty’s fiancé, took us for a motorcycle ride to get icecream. I have no idea where we were, but it was so much fun. I hung on to Betty and laughed and screamed as we zipped through town with no cares in the world. I was thankful for this experience. For a while, I felt as if I would not be able to do things like that, but I had the freedom to go, to enjoy, and to come back safely. This is what I need in my life, but it’s hard to do as the foreign girl with tattoos that doesn’t speak the language.

Oh, and how could I leave out my babies? I went to Love Community Home and was blessed with so much love. “Alyssa is here,” the kids sang. They gave me kisses and hugs and bracelets. I missed them so much. Now, since I can speak a little bit more than I could last year, I was able to hold small conversations. I’m so excited to translate for Chez.

​Yesterday, I took my first trip to Jacmel with Pastor’s family. We visited bissin bleu, a 75ft waterfall. The fun part was hiking, rock climbing and swimming to the waterfall; literally. It was adventurous, compelling and beautiful. Our tour guides were amazing and took awesome pictures of us. I didn’t know that we had to hike or anything of the sort, so I didn’t wear my bathing suit OR sneakers. That’s right, I had on my white Puma slides, but I tackled the hike like a boss! We watched people climb up the waterfall and jump in. I wanted to jump into the deep water so badly, but everybody was afraid that I could not swim. I jumped in anyways, and swam like the mermaid I am. (Weird to me that people who live on an island do not swim, but some parts of Haiti are like Atlanta; far from water while the state of Georgia is on the ocean). I had on my shorts and a bra, but hey, I made it and I only felt a little bit embarrassed. ​After we finished our adventure hike, we had pate and plantains for lunch before we

drove to the beach. ​ When we got to the beach, people flocked to us, trying to sell everything. There were bracelets and paintings, candy, and beverages, seafood, conch, goat-kebabs, everything! I’m not a big fan of being harassed, but all of the food was really good. I took the kids into the water and almost regretted it. It was the dirtiest ocean water that I’ve ever been in. It did get more clean the further you went in, but I had a 5-year-old trying to jump waves in my arms and a 9-year-old hanging from my waste. I kept them as clean as I could and tried to avoid getting the water in their mouths and eyes, but eventually I had to give up. We headed back to our table to wait for our freshly cooked meals. On the three hour ride back home, I passed out. Tired was an understatement.

​That wasn’t all though. When we got to the house, Johanne had prepared a beautiful meal, complete with wine and decorations, for Pierre and Batista’s wedding anniversary. We ate, we sang (not me because I didn’t know the songs), we laughed and we enjoyed the remainder of the night!

​Today, I got a lot accomplished. I worked on some logos and started another website, I practiced Creole, I had pancakes for breakfast, and I got to drive. Total let me drive Johanne’s car to the super market and back, with three backseat riders, Roderick, Phalone and Corrine. I was a little afraid, but I conquered the streets! I do need to work on honking the horn more often, but I’ll get there. I exchanged some money so I could stop letting people buy me things. Just having some Haitian money in my pocket makes me feel better. Afterwards, I went to the salon and got a manicure and pedicure. It cost me 250 goudes (BRO, THAT’S LESS THAN $4)! 

Realistically, I could save some money and come back here later and be RICH! I told Ziaa to go into business with me and she told me she couldn’t live this life. But come on, $4 for a mani-pedi? I’m with it! Cassandra made lasagna for dinner. I opened a bank account. I went swimming. I worked on the church’s first newsletter for VBS. Today was another great day. I’m really loving being here. PLUS, it’s August, so HAPPY 24 DAYS OF NEE! <3 Litttttttttttttttttt!
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